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Are there any reliable rental car companies - Venice Marco Polo and Milan Malpensa?

Hi-
We will be renting a car from Venice Marco Polo airport, and returning to Milan Malpensa, early in the morning we depart. I was looking at car rental companies that are available in Venice and MXP (Terminal 1), and wow - SO many 1 star reviews on every single company.
Has anyone had luck and had a good experience with any company in particular? We're looking through Auto Europe. Or, any to definitely stay away from?
Thanks!

Posted by
2144 posts

We always rent through Autoeurope.com which comoares many reliable companies and the rates fir different models. Be aware that there is typically a drop fee for one way rentals. We have used Europecar many times.

Posted by
23642 posts

AND if an early morning drop, make sure that the facility is open. We have found European agencies tend to have shorter hours. Consider dropping the afternoon/evening the day before.

Posted by
17562 posts

We have rented cars with Hertz at Venice Marco Polo airport twice, with no issues. Once we rented with Hertz at Lucca, also with no issues. But with 3 trouble-free rental experiences in Italy, we are going to quit while we are ahead. No more rental cars in Italy for us.

Posted by
14 posts

We rented from Sixt in Milan this past spring. A year ago my husband used Sixt in Portugal. It was fine, no issues. We plan on using them again in Venice later this year.

Posted by
54 posts

Thanks everyone! We're definitely looking at Europcar. Only hitch is that I saw that they don't open for drop off until 7:30 (the other companies are 7:00), and our flight is at 10:40........ Is that cutting it too close?

Posted by
11948 posts

Only hitch is that I saw that they don't open for drop off until 7:30 (the other companies are 7:00), and our flight is at 10:40........ Is that cutting it too close?

Probably enough time if you start early enough to get gas before drop off, but personally I would sleep better if I dropped it off the night before. Many of the hotels near MXP have shuttle service, so you could drop your bags at the hotel and then drop car and take shuttle back to hotel. Then in the morning just hop the shuttle to he airport. Makes the morning of the flight simpler in my view.

Posted by
33994 posts

have things changed since the last question and answer last month?

Posted by
11948 posts

Nigel's comment prompted me to look at OP's history.

Unless the trip has changed, since her earlier posts, below summarizes the OP's situation

OP has a Saturday night wedding in Menaggio, a Sunday flight back to the US and a function to attend on Monday (in the US)

The 10:40 AM flight goes to Paris where OP gets the US bound flight

OP has 2 options, neither is 'wonderful'

1- Someone is the designated driver ( non drinker) and to make the drive to a hotel near MXP that night.

2- Get up really ugly early to get to MXP in the morning to drop the car and make the flight.

Personally I find option one more palatable. ( less ugly)

OP just has to make a choice; have the hangman use the green rope or the blue rope.

The one plus factor OP has is that the MXP departure flight is to Paris, so does not need to do passport control at MXP and thus being in the terminal by 8:30AM should be adequate. The rental car office not being open before 7:30 is not a deal killer.
Your task is not impossible, just a matter of your personal choice.

Good luck and happy travels

Posted by
54 posts

Joe32F -
You hit the nail on the head. As of now, we plan on ugly option number 2 (I used to get up at 4am every morning for work, for 30ish years, though of course I wasn't at a wedding the night before :) ) Plus, we'd have to pay for two hotels, since we'll need our hotel until 5pm to get ready for the wedding.
I'll talk to my husband about it. And, we did decided to go with Europcar, the one with the 7:30 opening, after hearing that we should be okay since we'll be going through passport control in Paris.

It looks like "if" traffic is good, it'll take about an hour and 1/2 to get to MXP. I will definitely give ourselves another couple of hours to account for any issues that might arise.

Thanks!